photo credit: ingridtaylar

Imagine being so pumped by ketchup that you create a social media account to talk about ketchup and a particular brand. Now you also happen to be a marketer who wants to test the notion that the balance of power in branding has moved from the company to the customer. He starts making connections, building a following, starts conversations - people are actually bathing in the joy of ketchup. Then he is shut off. The company reaches out and takes back control.

He's a bit sad. You see, this guy likes ketchup and wants to talk about it. But he has no rights; he's not a representative of the company and he has no ties. He's an interloper.

Or is he?

Customers have removed the exercise of branding out of the direct control of marketers. If I happen to like a product or great service I talk about it. Conversely, if I dislike a product or service, I shout about it. The balance of power in marketing shifted years ago. The customer now controls the conversation. And this makes marketing much more than a customer acquisition or retention process. Marketing has become a customer-experience driven exercise. Corporate failings, poor customer service, draconian decisions, financial mistakes and deaf ears all become prime targets in the customer-driven stream of Tweets, Status Updates and Buzz.

Negative tweets and social media mentions do not necessarily equal bad marketing or branding. However, they do force companies to be more nuanced and sensitive to multiple channels, such as customer service, reputation and branding. It requires companies to listen, which apparently Heinz was doing because it quickly halted the Heinz Twitter feed:

After Mr. Werch submitted this piece to Ad Age, we asked Heinz for a response, and we received the following statement from Jessica Jackson, group leader public relations and communications for Heinz North America. “As part of our regular monitoring practices, we actively monitor the social-media space, which is how we discovered the Twitter account ‘hj_heinz.’ The information associated with this account did not disclose that the account holder was not an official representative of the H.J. Heinz. Heinz believes in transparency in social media and considered the ‘hj_heinz’ Twitter account to be very misleading for consumers, especially those people who were following this account. In accordance with Twitter’s Terms of Use, Heinz reported the impersonation to Twitter and the account was closed.”

While it can be argued Heinz was protecting its brand by squelching the conversation and taking back control, it also could be said that the ketchup maker missed an opportunity to spread a bit of goodness through the social channels. Social media's impact on brands requires companies to be willing to engage in a conversation at some level, or risk being labeled as having "poor customer service" or worse. It points to the choices all companies must make when deciding if, when, where, how and why a brand should respond or interact with its customers. However, ignoring is never an option unless you have such an exceptional product or fan base that people are going to buy your product no matter how much you ignore them or fail to engage them directly.